A Vietnam Minefield Experience

INSTITUTE PROCEEDINGS A Vietnam minefield experience an address1 to the Institute on 30 August 2011 by Dr Tony White, AM, RFD2 Tony White describes treating casualties in a minefield during his deployment to South Vietnam in 1966-67 as regimental medical officer of the 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. Key words: Vietnam War; minefield casualties; medical officer; Australian infantry battalion. During the Vietnam War in the 1960s, I served in 1st Australian Task Force Operations South Vietnam as the regimental medical officer (RMO) in Phouc Tuy Province of an Australian infantry battalion, the 5th Battalion of In April 1966, HMAS Sydney transported one the Royal Australian Regiment (5RAR), for a year in company of 5RAR plus stores and vehicles to Vung Tau, 1966-67. Let me start by placing that year in some a port on the Vietnamese coast south-east of Saigon, chronological and geographical context. the capital of South Vietnam. The rest of the battalion Australia’s direct involvement in the war in Vietnam was transported from RAAF Richmond (an airbase began in 1962 with the posting to South Vietnam of 30 near Sydney) to Saigon in a series of Qantas members of the Australian Army Training Team (Australian civilian airline) night flights over two weeks. (AATTV). In 1964, six Caribou aircraft of No. 35 The task force, under the command of Brigadier Transport Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force David Jackson, was allotted an area in the centre of (RAAF), were deployed. Later that year, conscription for Phuoc Tuy (now Baria-Vung Tau) Province for its base. military service was introduced in Australia. The area was an abandoned rubber plantation close to March 1965 saw the arrival in Vietnam of the first a small hill called Nui Dat. The base was 30 kilometres American combat troops. In May 1965, the 1st Battalion inland from the Australian Logistic Support Group of the Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR) was sent to (ALSG), which had been set up on the sand dunes the Bien Hoa airbase to operate as part of the United outside Vung Tau. The ALSG included stores, work - States (US) 173rd Airborne Brigade. Later that year, shops and 2nd Field Ambulance, which contained both a they were joined by an Australian artillery battery, casualty treatment section and a casualty evacuation engineers and army aviation. section. 1966 was a turbulent year. In January, the Minister The province had a population of about 104,000. It for Defence, Senator Shane Paltridge, died in office. He measured 60 x 40 kilometres and faced onto the South was replaced by Allen Fairhall. One week later, the China Sea. Its western border was 40 kilometres east of Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, resigned and was succeeded by Harold Holt. On the same day, Malcolm Fraser replaced A. J. Forbes as Minister for the Army. On 2 March 1966, cabinet decided to increase Australia’s commitment to a self-contained task force of two infantry battalions, a Special Air Service squadron3, combat and logistic support troops and eight Iroquois helicopters of No. 9 Squadron, RAAF. The task force was to be operational within two months. This decision has to be taken in the context of cabinet’s veto of any preparation for just such a force six months previously. Preparations for deployment were therefore rushed and chaotic, accounting for many of the logistic problems later experienced in Vietnam. Both battalions were brand new, having been raised only 12 months previously. Roughly half the personnel were national servicemen (conscripts). 1 This address is based on an incident recorded in Dr White’s 2011 book, Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam, 1966 – the Australian Task Starlight: An Australian Army Doctor in Vietnam (Copyright Publishing: Force base was located north of the village of Hoa Long; the Brisbane), which is reviewed on page 35. Australian Logistic Support Group is indicated by the black box 2E-mail: [email protected] 3Essentially, highly-trained infantry that specialise in intelligence gathering east of the port city of Vung Tau and surveillance behind enemy lines. [Map: Australian War Memorial, Wartime Issue 55, p. 26, July 2011] United Service 62 (4) December 2011 Page 13 Saigon. The main industries were fishing, rice-growing, metres, they were riddled with caves containing rubber plantations and charcoal. The only areas under extensive Viet Cong facilities. government control before arrival of the Australian task Earlier in the month during Tet, the Lunar New Year force were the provincial capital, Baria, and the corridor festival, a Viet Cong flag, spot-lit at night, flew defiantly from Baria to the port of Vung Tau. There were from a flagpole at the southern end of the hills. Eight government outposts in towns around the province, but months previously, the US 173rd Airborne Brigade had these were isolated and effectively under siege by the done a sweep through the area, suffering heavy National Liberation Front (NLF), a communist political casualties. organisation which sought the overthrow of the Most of the cordon-and-searches had been single southern government and the re-unification of south battalion operations. Phuoc Hai would need both and north Vietnam. Its military arm was the Viet Cong, Australian battalions. 6RAR would be helicoptered in at the communist guerrilla forces of South Vietnam. The first light from Nui Dat to block the eastern side of the NLF and the Viet Cong were strongly supported by village. 5RAR, approaching by land, would be North Vietnam. responsible for the western side. After three weeks of preparation on the beach at As with all these cordon-and-search operations, a Vung Tau, 5RAR was ferried up to the Nui Dat area in deception plan was required to get the battalion into four waves of 30 Iroquois helicopters of the US 68th position without arousing suspicion. The plan was for Aviation Company. It was an unopposed insertion – the 5RAR to carry out a search-and-destroy operation over US 173rd Airborne Brigade, at some cost, had cleared the eastern approaches and side of the Long Hai hills. the area prior to our arrival. One month later we were Moving from north to south over a week, the battalion joined by 6RAR. The next 12 months saw an unending would end up at the south-eastern corner of the hills the programme of patrolling and operations from one end of afternoon before the Phuoc Hai operation and only two the province to the other. The Nui Dat base was slowly kilometres to the west of the village. We could then be transformed from a muddy rubber plantation into a in place on the edge of the village by first light. small town. The most notable event of 1966, indeed of Operation Bribie Australia’s 10-year involvement in Vietnam, was D Events turned out very differently from the way they Company 6RAR’s battle of Long Tan on 18 August were planned. As mentioned earlier, this one week in 1966. February 1967, however, was the worst month for mid February 1967 proved a very expensive one for the task force casualties up to that point and that record Australian Task Force. The Long Hai operation itself stood for some time. 5RAR fell victim to two mine was preceded by a cordon-and-search of the village of incidents a week apart with a total of nine killed-in- An Nhut on 14 February. Shortly after the An Nhut action and 24 wounded. In the days between these two search got under way, the headquarters of 5RAR’s C incidents, 6RAR was mauled in Operation Bribie with Company was gathered on the fence line when an eight killed-in-action and 27 wounded. explosive device detonated, killing three officers and wounding five soldiers. Those killed included the Cordon-and-Search Operations company commander, Major Don Bourne, his second- The two 5RAR mine incidents were linked with in-command, Captain Bob Milligan and Captain Peter cordon-and-search operations. In these operations, the Williams, the New Zealand artillery forward observer. battalion would creep up on a village overnight so as to Major Bourne had just taken over command of the have a cordon in place before first light to prevent company and this was his first operation. He was the villagers leaving. The village would then be searched, father of four young children and it was his 35th birthday. house to house, usually by Vietnamese government Captain Milligan was due to return to Australia shortly troops. 5RAR carried out nine such operations during and this was to be his last operation. He was a popular the year and they proved very useful in terms of the officer who had been dux of his year at the Officer numbers of Viet Cong suspects captured, and the Cadet School and had won the Governor General’s quantity of weapons and documents seized. Medal. The nature of the An Nhut explosion was never The village of Phuoc Hai, just east of the Long Hai clarified. hills, was chosen for the next cordon-and-search. This Three days later (the day before the planned start of had a population of 8000 and was a very productive the Long Hai operation), the enemy attacked the fishing fishing village, supplying the Saigon market as well as village of Phuoc Hai, the object of our next cordon-and- the province. The Viet Cong had infiltrated a large cadre search. 6RAR responded and their ensuing engage - into the village and undertook a lot of recruiting there. ment, Operation Bribie, turned into a ferocious 5-hour The Long Hai hills had been a guerrilla haven since fire-fight, with numerous casualties.

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